With health and reproductive rights increasingly being determined at the state level, Access Walk is taking steps to support choice by strengthening Seattle’s ability to help people from across the nation. Capitol Hill’s Volunteer Park will host the 2024 Access Walk this Saturday with funds and donations raised at the event going towards services people need most when seeking care far from their homes, like lodging, food and, gasoline.
Access Walk co-founder Jeff Pyatt tell CHS the fall of Roe v. Wade inspired a family discussion at the dinner table. After pondering what they could do to assist birthing people, they came up with an idea for the walk. The first was held in Volunteer Park in 2023.
“This is a basic healthcare right—abortion is. Having it be banned or hard to receive in so many states, and having abortion services in Washington that are available, but for access, hard to get here, I feel like we have a moral imperative to make sure that anyone who needs to get here for an abortion can, and if we can help them with lodging and fuel and transportation and meals, then we’re doing good work,” Pyatt said. Continue reading →
Capitol Hill’s Seattle Asian Art Museum is ready to return to full power. Four years after pandemic restrictions closed its doors and after a few years of step by step return to more normal days at the Volunteer Park art venue, SAAM will finally get back to its pre-COVID schedule as it returns Wednesdays to its schedule starting next week.
Beginning August 28, the Seattle Asian Art Museum in historic Volunteer Park adds Wednesdays back to its calendar, bringing the museum to a schedule of five days a week, Wednesday through Sunday, 10 am to 5 pm.
To celebrate, the museum is inviting the community to enjoy opening day of the new exhibition, Meot: Korean Art from the Frank Bayley Collection for free. Meot: Community Opening Day is Wednesday, August 28 and is free and open to the public. To attend, purchase free admission to the museum for that day.
The historic building reopened on February 8, 2020, after a three-year renovation and expansion—only to close again on March 13, 2020 due to the COVID pandemic. It reopened on May 28, 2021, with a three-day-a-week schedule and added Thursdays back to the schedule on October 5, 2023. Now, it’s back to a full five-day-a-week schedule that aligns with the schedule of the Seattle Art Museum in downtown Seattle.
CHS reported here last September as SAAM added Thursdays back to its offerings.
SAAM returned from its pandemic shutdown in May 2021. SAAM has shuttered in mid-March 2020 as COVID-19 numbers climbed. Only weeks earlier, the building had reopened after three years of closure and construction to overhaul and expand the museum.
The return of Wednesday’s will bring a free celebration of SAAM’s new Meot show featuring the work of more than 60 Korean artists.
Learn more about SAAM and the free community opening day for Meot at seattleartmuseum.org.
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As efforts to improveCal Anderson Park continue, the group dedicated to shepherding changes and protections at Volunteer Park is seeking community feedback about ways to make the northern Capitol Hill public green space even better.
“Volunteer Park Trust wants your input on potential park projects,” the invitation to participate reads. “Please answer the below questions to help us prioritize park improvements moving forward. We will take all feedback into consideration.” Continue reading →
This weekend brings the three-day Capitol Hill Block Party music festival to the streets of Pike/Pine along with about 30,000 music fans inside the fences of the ticketed event. There will be a lot of activities going on outside those fences, too, including a mix of free events and activities in Cal Anderson Park.
But if CHBP is not your vibe, these Capitol Hill summer weeks bring a lot of other — cheaper — options for enjoying public space and people watching in the neighborhood with a calendar of free music and movie screenings in full motion.
In Cal Anderson, the city’s last outdoor movie of the season hits the park screen on Friday, July 26th with a showing of The Rocky Horror Picture Show. In August, outdoor screenings in the area shift to First Hill’s Freeway Park:
• Fri., August 2 – The Fifth Element • FrI., August 9 – Reality Bites • Fri., August 16 – Twister • Fri, August 23 – 10 Things I Hate About You • Fri., August 30 – Jurassic Park (1993)
Meanwhile, every Thursday through August 15th will bring free music to the Volunteer Park amphitheater as the space’s outdoor concert series runs for its third year.
Good times in Volunteer Park earlier this summer as Clinton Fearon took the stage (Image: Volunteer Park Trust)
Need more? Tuesday nights through September 24th feature the special weeknight edition of the Capitol Hill Farmers Market next to Capitol Hill Station.
UPDATE: Also coming in August will be a Cal Anderson slate of the city’s Dancing Til Dusk free dance events:
Thursdays in Cal Anderson Park, 6–9:30pm
Aug 1: Birch Pereira and the Gin Joints
Americana Rock’n’Roll
Aug 8: WCS DJ Battle with Sam, Lia & Rebecca | West Coast Swing
Aug 15: Ranger and the “Re-Arrangers” | Django Reinhart Swing
The first hour of the dance nights includes a beginning dance lesson. “No experience needed,” they promise. Also, get ready to meet your neighbors. “We rotate partners,” the parks department says, “but if you prefer not to, bring a partner to the lesson.”
As for Block Party, CHS reported here on the 2024 edition — the 26th year for the festival in its current format. Producer Daydream State, the production company from Pike/Pine nightlife entrepreneur Jason Lajeunesse that puts on the annual three-day ticketed music festival on the neighborhood’s streets, have put together a 2024 CHBP lineup that includes headliners “Grammy-winning producer Kaytranada, electropop superstar Kim Petras (Petras had to withdraw due to health), and indie rock group Still Woozy.” Friday passes are sold out thanks to a surge in demand to see Chappell Roan. Capitol Hill Block Party 2024 takes place Friday, July 19th through Sunday, July 21st. Learn more at capitolhillblockparty.com.
Prefer freeloading? Seattle Parks is holding this free concert in Cal Anderson on Saturday evening across from the Block Party gates:
FREE concert at Cal Anderson Park! Saturday, July 20 from 5-10pm Performances by Off99, Noah Coinflip, Sugarpea, and Quaad! Produced in partnership with Selected Records. Come hang out!
Or stop by Volunteer Park Saturday night starting at 7 PM for free Chamber Music in the Park:
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This is the third summer we’ve been able to enjoy Volunteer Park’s new amphitheater. Once again, the community group dedicated to keeping the park a vibrant and active neighborhood center is hosting a series of Thursday night concerts to celebrate the $2.7 million amphitheater project.
This Thursday, the Volunteer Park Trust welcomes you to the first night of its Summer Series at the Amphitheater 2024 run of free community concerts featuring Seattle’s own Clinton Fearon.
The Dyke March mixed with the PrideFest street festival Saturday night on Broadway in a familiar and fun scene in the middle of Capitol Hill’s annual June celebration of queer community, culture, love, and, yes, commerce.
While Pride 2024 weekend didn’t have the sunny, blue skies of 2023, crowds still filled Broadway, Cal Anderson Park, and the AIDS Memorial Plaza where organizers also added Drag Queen Storytime and a pet drag show to the mix.
The night before, a sliver sky also greeted the 2024 edition of Trans Pride Seattle to its home this year in Volunteer Park where organizers at the Gender Justice League continued a grassroots ethos, forgoing corporate sponsorship, and sustaining the annual rally and party “to honor and carry the torch of our Transcestors who originated Pride as a means of both resistance and cultural communion.”
Cosmic Ice Cream is a Seattle favorite known for its eye-catching treats that taste as good as they look. The bright blue truck has become a familiar sight in Volunteer Park, drawing crowds with its Instagram-worthy sweets and providing sweet treats in the massively popular public green space.
Their unique approach and vibrant branding have made a splash on social media, particularly on TikTok. “Photographed by thousands,” says Sabrina Tissot, co-owner of Cosmic Ice Cream with her husband, Shane Tissot.
The truck offers classic staples like root beer floats and vanilla swirl, but the real highlight is the create-your-own menu. Customers can personalize their ice cream with a variety of toppings, all made with locally sourced and organic ingredients. Cosmic Ice Cream also offers special cosmic-themed flavors, a changing seasonal menu, and even dog treats.
Designers by trade, the Tissots used to own the Fremont boutique Wish. When the pandemic forced them to close as their landlords decided to sell, they turned their eye to other artistic endeavors. Inspired by Sabrina’s first job as an ice cream vendor, they wanted to bring something beautiful to the city’s food truck mix. Continue reading →
This young coyote has been spotted recently in Volunteer Park. (Images: @eccentric.expanse with permission to CHS)
There is something hopeful about Volunteer Park being able to host thousands of people to kick off the city’s 50th Pride festivities while also making space for a coyote or three.
Recent appearances by a young coyote in the popular Capitol Hill park have officials hopeful that visitors will take care and keep their pets on a leash to keep the green space safe for the wild canines.
The Seattle Parks Department tells CHS it has been monitoring reported sightings in the park and is working closely with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife to follow “their policies and recommendations for urban wildlife in parks.” The parks department was also working to get additional signs posted alerting people to the coyotes.
“We’ve had coyote activity in the Arboretum in past years and have managed it with notification signage and collaboration with WDFW,” a spokesperson tells CHS.
It is best if everyone works extra hard to get along. The coyotes face serious consequences if the situation isn’t working out. Continue reading →
Organizers from the city’s official Seattle Pride group say some 12,000 people attended Saturday’s free event of music, drag, DJs, dance, and fun that has grown into the annual kickoff for June’s festivities.
While there will now be a lull before the largest Pride events take place in Seattle to end the month, you’ll find plenty of smaller parties and celebrations across the city and at venues across Capitol Hill including Seattle’s strongest concentration of queer bars and clubs up and down Pike, Pine, and Broadway.
Make sure to save some energy. Capitol Hill’s Pride 2024 calendar has a few highlights to look forward to:
JUNE 22ND — Capitol Hill Pride:The organizers at Capitol Hill Pride are tenacious. They’ve stubbornly continued to hold their “march and rally” for 15 years now in longstanding opposition to the much larger Seattle PrideFest group’s efforts. They have a doggie drag costume contest. Seattle PrideFest has a doggie drag contest. Might as well enter both. The grassroots approach usually means pretty underwhelming participation and crowds in the dozens but, if nothing else, it can be interesting to see who gets roped in every year. In 2024, the organizers are boasting planned participation by the Mexican consulate. You can learn more at capitolhillpridefestival.info.
JUNE 29TH — PrideFest Capitol Hill: This is the big street festival and fair in Cal Anderson Park you’re thinking of. Organizers are back in 2024 with plans to close Broadway from John to Roy, turn Barbara Bailey Way into a festival street, and fill Cal Anderson with Drag Queen Storytime, a pet drag show, and the PrideFest Capitol Hill Dance Party with C89.5 DJs to close it all down. — More info on the CHS Calendar
JUNE 29TH AND 30TH — PRIDE WEEKEND — Varies!: Capitol Hill’s Pride weekend parties and beer gardens along Pike/Pine and Broadway have grown in scale with streets closed to traffic and multiple stages. As usual, Sunday’s big parade takes place downtown.
More scenes from Saturday’s Pride in the Park, below.
Ready. Set. Go. Every Thursday night, Capitol Hill runners of all paces take off through Cal Anderson Park for a weekly group run featuring a 5k loop through Volunteer Park and a social hour at a neighborhood beer stop to follow.
This is not a race.
“When you know there’s a group of people who are going to meet regardless of the weather, it gives you an extra bonus to know … I am not going to run on my own,” Sergey Voronkin of the E Pine running shoe store Fleet Feet says. “When you have already been multiple times you’ve made a connection and friends, so this adds extra accountability and extra motivation.”
Voronkin, who works as the Inventory Manager at the Capitol Hill store, hosts the weekly runs. When he started leading the Fleet Feet runs in September, around a dozen runners would attend the pub runs. Now a pack of 50 to 60 runners rumble across the streets of Capitol Hill for the weekly run.
Fleet Feet is a national chain for runners with 260 stores across the country that has been part of Capitol Hill for years. In addition to selling running gear, Fleet Feet has training programs and running groups. A second Seattle Fleet Feet store is located in Ballard.
The Thursday Pub Run through the Capitol Hill neighborhood is one of the three weekly runs organized by the Capitol Hill store. While the Tuesday evening and Saturday morning runs are longer and generally ran at a faster pace, the Pub Runs follow a more casual “party pace.” Continue reading →
